James Orange

James Orange (29 October 1942-16 February 2008) was an SCLC project coordinator and a leader of the Civil Rights movement.

Biography
James Orange was born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1942, and he was raised in Atlanta, Georgia. Orange was recruited into the Civil Rights movement by Ralph Abernathy in 1962, and Orange took part in picketing outside of a local Birmingham store. Orange would be arrested at least 104 times while working as an activist and an SCLC project coordinator, and he was detained in Perry County for pushing for young people to vote. Orange's imprisonment led to a night march on the county jail, which led to state troopers killing Jimmie Lee Jackson at a cafe as Jackson and his family fled arrest. This led to the Selma to Montgomery marches, which in turn led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Orange served as a regional AFL-CIO coordinator and took part in 300 labor organizing campaigns, and he drew young people into the labor and civil rights movements. Orange died in Atlanta, Georgia in 2008 at the age of 65.